AFRL Conducts Successful Micro-Meteoroid Impact Tests

  • Published
  • By Space Vehicles Directorate
  • AFRL/VS
AFRL scientists, partnering with Sandia National Laboratories, replicated a micro-meteoroid's collision with a satellite. The effort, which involved ground-based replication of a cosmos-based event, proved a daunting challenge for the team, but perseverance--along with a strategy change--overcame the difficulties. The team successfully reproduced a collision event in which space particles traveling between 44,739 and 134,216 mph strike a satellite and create resultant radio wave emissions that can potentially hinder warfighter communication and harm the satellite structure. AFRL scientists used existing information related to damaging, milligram-sized pieces of carbon and other materials hitting spacecraft to see if these same particles produce plasma, which could ultimately cause communication interference.

Sandia National Laboratories provided the hypervelocity launcher, capable of shooting small titanium plates at speeds of 40,000+ mph. AFRL scientists used multilayer insulation, the thermal blanket covering most spacecraft, and with each firing, radio wave emissions occurred at the insulated impact area. As a result of the successful tests, the project team hopes to eventually apply the experiment results to an orbit of flight instruments to enhance current space situational awareness technology.